AGEISM EXPERIENCED AND EXPRESSED: MANIFESTATIONS ACROSS CONTEXTS AND TRANSGRESSORS

Abstract Ageism was first defined more than fifty years ago, yet its expressions and effects on society continue today. In this symposium, we examine manifestations of ageism across contexts and transgressors in order to determine the effects of ageism in light of a pandemic as well as a post-pandemic world. Important social contexts in which ageism plays a part are examined, such as the workplace and COVID-19 vaccination. As well, efforts to reduce ageism through confrontation are investigated, particularly with respect to reactions to ageist behavior. Providing a window into ageist communication during the pandemic, Bascu and colleagues detail how ageism was expressed in social media regarding policies for COVID-19 vaccination. Delving into the factors that drive older workers’ decisions to remain or to leave an organization, both Lagacé et al and Swift investigate the role that perceived ageism plays. Lagacé and colleagues assess how older workers’ perceptions of being the target of ageism impacts their well-being, their psychological disengagement, and their intentions to leave their organization. Swift considers how experiences of ageism in the workplace predict older workers’ retirement intentions through reduced job satisfaction and lowered intrinsic motivation to work. Chasteen et al. test the impact of confronting ageism on perceptions of transgressors as well as how perceivers use characteristics of an older adult target as a normative cue for determining their reactions to ageist behavior. Taken together, these presentations illustrate the influence of ageism on vital life domains such as healthcare and the labor force.


STRESS AND DEATH: GLUCOCORTICOIDS AND SURVIVAL IN A WILD PRIMATE MODEL OF AGING
Fernando Campos, University of Texas, San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, United States Chronic exposure to stressors has been linked with a wide range of detrimental effects on health in humans, laboratory animals, and a few wild animal populations.Glucocorticoids (GCs) mediate stress responses, and consequently GC levels are regularly measured in humans and other animals as biological markers of stress.However, no tests in humans or in natural populations of animals have yet established clear connections between environmental stressors, chronically elevated GCs, and shortened lifespan.To fill this gap, we used longitudinal data on wild female baboons to investigate the relationship between GC levels and survival-the single greatest determinant of variation in evolutionary fitness among female baboons.Using 14,173 GC measurements from 242 wild adult female baboons over 1634 female years, we document a powerful link between GCs and survival: females with relatively high current GCs or high lifelong cumulative GCs face an elevated risk of death.A hypothetical female who maintained GCs in the top 90% for her age across adulthood would be expected to lose 5.4 years of life relative to a female who maintained GCs in the bottom 10% for her age.Hence, differences among individuals in HPA axis activity provide valuable prognostic information about disparities in lifespan.Together, our results both support the value of GCs as a window into health, fitness, and aging and suggest that they may mechanistically contribute to the established link between sociality and lifespan.

FIVE BIODEMOGRAPHIC PRINCIPLES OF AGING THAT EMERGED FROM RESEARCH ON THE MEDITERRANEAN FRUIT FLY
James Carey, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, United States Because of its large size, visually-distinct sex differences, abundance in the wild and ease of rearing at both industrial and individual levels, the Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly) is an ideal model organism for conducting research on the demography of aging.I will present details on and implications for what I consider to be the five most interesting and important aging-related discoveries from the NIA-funded research my colleagues and I conducted over the past three decades using the medfly model.These discoveries include (1)Deceleration of mortality at advanced ages; (2) Equivocality of the gender gap due to context-specific sex mortality relationships; (3)Supine behavior as a biomarker of both morbidity onset and time-to-death; (4)A dietary disconnect between maximizing longevity vs maximizing lifetime reproduction; and (5)the life table population identity in which the fraction age x in a stationary population equals the fraction with x years to live.I will end with brief comments about the use of non-conventional model organisms for research on aging in both the laboratory and the field.

AGEISM EXPERIENCED AND EXPRESSED: MANIFESTATIONS ACROSS CONTEXTS AND TRANSGRESSORS Chair: Alison Chasteen
Ageism was first defined more than fifty years ago, yet its expressions and effects on society continue today.In this symposium, we examine manifestations of ageism across contexts and transgressors in order to determine the effects of ageism in light of a pandemic as well as a post-pandemic world.Important social contexts in which ageism plays a part are examined, such as the workplace and COVID-19 vaccination.As well, efforts to reduce ageism through confrontation are investigated, particularly with respect to reactions to ageist behavior.Providing a window into ageist communication during the pandemic, Bascu and colleagues detail how ageism was expressed in social media regarding policies for COVID-19 vaccination.Delving into the factors that drive older workers' decisions to remain or to leave an organization, both Lagacé et al and Swift investigate the role that perceived ageism plays.Lagacé and colleagues assess how older workers' perceptions of being the target of ageism impacts their well-being, their psychological disengagement, and their intentions to leave their organization.Swift considers how experiences of ageism in the workplace predict older workers' retirement intentions through reduced job satisfaction and lowered intrinsic motivation to work.Chasteen et al. test the impact of confronting ageism on perceptions of transgressors as well as how perceivers use characteristics of an older adult target as a normative cue for determining their reactions to ageist behavior.Taken together, these presentations illustrate the influence of ageism on vital life domains such as healthcare and the labor force.

REACTIONS TO PERPETRATORS OF BENEVOLENT AGEISM: WHAT INFLUENCES PERCEPTIONS?
Alison Chasteen 1 , Zainab Saleem 1 , and Michelle Horhota 2 , 1. University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2. Furman University, Greenville, South Carolina, United Sta tes Ageism against older adults is a longstanding and pervasive problem.Benevolent ageism can be particularly difficult to address, given it is characterized by warmth and condescension.In two studies, we examined the impact of confronting prejudice on perceptions of a young adult perpetrator who expressed benevolent ageism.In both studies, the perpetrator initiated unwanted help to an older person who was either 62 or 82 years old, and the older adult either accepted or politely rejected the unwanted assistance.In both studies, participants felt that rejecting (i.e., confronting) the ageist behavior decreased the likelihood the perpetrator would repeat the behavior.Young adult participants used the age of the older target as a cue for interpreting the perpetrator's intentions, such that they rated the perpetrator's actions as less intending to offend if the older target was 82 than 62 years of age.Moreover, younger adults used the age of the older target to determine whether the perpetrator should be confronted, indicating that confrontation should occur when the target was 62 vs. 82 years old.Taken together, these studies demonstrate that participants of all ages feel that confronting benevolent ageism can be an effective tool for reducing biased behavior.As well, these findings show that the age of the older adult target might be used as a normative cue to interpret the perpetrator's intentions and actions, thus providing a more nuanced picture of what might drive witnesses' responses to ageist behavior.

AMBIVALENT AGEISM IN THE WORKPLACE AND ITS IMPACT: EXPLORING PERCEPTIONS OF OLDER WORKERS
Martine Lagacé 1 , Ezgi Tasyurek 2 , Philippe Rodrigue-Rouleau 2 , Caroline Bergeron 2 , and Melanie Levasseur 3 , 1. Université d 'Ottawa,Ottawa,Ontario,Canada,2. University of Ottawa,Ottawa,Ontario,Canada,3. Université de Sherbrooke,Sherbrooke,Quebec,Canada Several countries are currently facing significant labour shortages in different work sectors.One of the solutions being considered to deal with such shortages is the retention of older workers.However, to do so, ageist attitudes and discrimination in the workplace must be countered as well as their negative impacts on older workers' well-being.While previous studies have focused on assessing the impact of hostile ageism in the workplace, less research has been conducted on ambivalent ageism (i.e., stereotypes of fragility and incompetence) in the workplace.This study examines if and to what extent older workers perceive to be the target of ambivalent ageism and how such perceptions impact their well-being, in terms of psychological disengagement, self-esteem, perceived employability as well as intentions to leave their organization.An online, bilingual (French / English) questionnaire was completed by 951 Canadian older workers aged 50 years or more.Preliminary data analysis suggests that ambivalent ageism is negatively associated with perceived employability and self-esteem and positively associated with psychological disengagement and intentions to leave.Further, stratified data analysis by age group suggests that workers aged 62 or older perceive less ambivalent ageism, are less disengaged and have significantly higher self-esteem than workers of younger age groups.Such findings call for the implementation of workplace policies that are age-based inclusive and that account for differential experiences of ageism in the workplace.During the pandemic, many high-income countries prioritized older adults for COVID-19 vaccination in an attempt to reduce mortality.This prioritization may have exacerbated ageism and intergenerational conflict, especially with the limited quantity of COVID-19 vaccines.This presentation examines vaccine-related ageism during COVID-19 on social media to inform future vaccination campaigns and policies.Using Twitter, we gathered 1,369 relevant tweets using the Twint application in Python from December 8, 2020 to December 31, 2021.Tweets were assessed using inductive thematic analysis and steps were taken to ensure rigor and trustworthiness.Based on our analysis, four main themes were identified including: i) Blame and aggression; ii) Misinformation and mocking content; iii) Ageist political insults; and iv) Challenging ageism.Our study identified issues of false information, hate speech, and ageist political insults that are contributing to intergenerational conflict.Although some tweets challenged this derogatory messaging and demonstrated intergenerational unity, our findings suggest ageism contributed to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among older adults.Accordingly, urgent action is required to challenge vaccine misinformation, counter aggressive ageist content, and support intergenerational unity during the pandemic.